2004-07-30 04:00:00 PDT Washington -- A comprehensive examination of the U.S.-led agency that oversaw the rebuilding of Iraq has triggered at least 27 criminal investigations and produced evidence of millions of dollars' worth of fraud, waste and abuse, according to a report by the Coalition Provisional Authority's inspector general.

The report also says that U.S. civilian authorities in Iraq failed to keep good track of nearly $1 billion in Iraqi money spent for reconstruction projects and can't produce records to show whether they got some services and products they paid for.

The CPA, for example, paid nearly $200,000 for 15 police trucks without confirming they were delivered, and auditors have not located them, the report said. Officials also didn't have records to justify the $24.7 million price tag for replacing the Iraqi currency, which used to carry Saddam Hussein's portrait, the report said.

The report is the most sweeping indication yet that some U.S. officials and private contractors repeatedly violated the law in the free-wheeling atmosphere that pervaded the multibillion-dollar effort to rebuild the war- torn country.

More than $600 million in cash from Iraqi oil money was spent with insufficient controls. Senior U.S. officials manipulated or misspent contract money. Millions of dollars' worth of equipment could not be located, the report said.

"We found problems in the CPA's financial management, procurement practices and operational controls," Stuart W. Bowen Jr., the inspector general, wrote in the report. "These results are not surprising: The CPA faced a variety of daunting challenges, including extremely hazardous working conditions."

The report raises anew questions surrounding the occupation government under Paul Bremer, who turned over control in June to an interim government led by Iraqis.

Former CPA officials and contracting experts said they were surprised at the number of criminal investigations described in Bowen's report. Criminal corruption charges in the United States involving federal contracting are rare, they noted.

The one-star general overseeing reconstruction contracts in Iraq said in response to the audit that the lack of documentation didn't prove the money was wasted.

"We believe the contracts awarded with Iraqi funds were for the sole benefit of the Iraqi people, without exception," Army Brig. Gen. Stephen M. Seay wrote to the inspector general.

Seay said the CPA contracting office was overworked, understaffed and under constant threat of attack. The general said his office had overhauled policies and organization in recent months to do better contract oversight.

The report cited several criminal cases under investigation.

In one case, it said, a U.S. senior adviser manipulated the contracting system to award a $7.2 million security contract. The contract was later voided and the money returned.

In another incident, a contractor billed $3.3 million for nonexistent personnel working on an oil-pipeline repair contract, the report said, and a security contractor guarding the pipeline overcharged the CPA by $20,000. Both incidents are under criminal investigation.

Besides the more than two dozen criminal cases under investigation by the inspector general, approximately 35 others have been referred on to other U.S. agencies for further investigation, said James P. Mitchell, an inspector general spokesman.